Chapter 732 Life in London
UK.
East End.
At the dilapidated and fishy intersection of Westford Street, a seven or eight-year-old boy hurried to the "Flying Star Candy Store" and saw that there was "only" a queue of 200 people. The queue of visitors quickly stood at the end of the queue.
He has visited all the candy shops in the East District, and there are the fewest people here.
The team moved forward slowly, and the boy poked his dirty little head out from time to time, looking hopefully towards the store.
You could vaguely see a few jars on the dark brown "subsidy" cabinet, and a happy smile appeared on his face.
Finally, after queuing for an hour and a half, the boy arrived in front of the store.
He wiped his nose, tightened the large coat that was obviously made from adult clothes, and handed the small wooden box in his hand to the shopkeeper:
"Mr. Miller, I want to buy 6 ounces of jaggery.”
"You're in luck, little Andy," the fat shopkeeper tilted the last clay pot, "and you still have the last five ounces."
Just as he was about to pour the sugar in the jar into the boy's wooden box , a middle-aged man whose clothes were stained with grease reached out and pushed the wooden box aside, and said in a rough voice:
"I want these 5 ounces."
Andy He looked up at the man nervously, but gritted his teeth and stood in front of the counter, unwilling to give in at all.
The store owner Miller covered the sugar bowl and said to the middle-aged man:
"Sir, this kid came first."
"He jumped in line." The middle-aged man picked up Andy impatiently and threw him behind him, "Look, it's like this."
"You can't..."
The middle-aged man slapped a few coins on the counter:
"5 ounces of jaggery! Stop talking, I can give you an extra penny. .”
The shopkeeper glanced at Andy, silently collected the money, and poured the candy into the man's paper bag.
The man left with satisfaction. Andy took a few steps forward, only to see the shopkeeper take down the sign that said "Subsidy", revealing the price of "Jaggery 1 shilling and 1 penny per half pound" on the back. Come on.
Andy suddenly burst into tears.
The government-subsidized sugar price is 9 pence per half pound. Although it is more than twice as expensive as last year, it is 4 pence cheaper than the normal price.
He only had 7 pennies in his pocket, which was enough to buy 6 ounces of sugar, but now he couldn't even buy 4 ounces.
He wiped away his tears and begged the shopkeeper:
"Mr. Miller, please, can you sell it to me at a subsidized price?"
The latter sighed: "Every week There are only 300 pounds of subsidized sugar, and it’s already sold out. I can’t sell it to you at a loss.”
The dozens of people who were still queuing at the back gathered around and shouted in confusion:
“We want to subsidize sugar!”
"This is too expensive, why not sell it at a subsidized price?"
"You black-hearted guy, don't be polite to him, go in and grab it!"
"That's right, teach this profiteer a lesson! "
The shop owner was startled and hurriedly stepped forward to close the door, but someone still squeezed in, staring at the sugar bowl on the shelf.
“Du—”
Just then, a sharp whistle came from across the street. Several police officers ran over quickly, waving sticks.
However, their actions were still a little slow. Seven or eight cans of candy had been snatched away, and one was broken on the ground.
The police beat several troublemakers severely and arrested one person, and then the crowd dispersed.
The shopkeeper cursed loudly while carefully shoveling up the sugar scattered on the ground bit by bit. Sugar is so expensive on the market today. If the government didn't provide subsidies, it would be impossible for him to sell half a pound for 9 pence. And Andy was pushed down by the candy robbers just now, and his legs were stepped on several times, making him cry even harder.
Two hours later, the boy limped back home holding the small wooden box.
As soon as he entered the door, the woman who was frying French fries in the room shouted without looking back: "You are back."
But when she saw the empty When he was picking up the wooden box, he suddenly shouted in a high voice: "Where's the sugar? You useless thing, why didn't you buy it?!"
"All the subsidized sugar in the store has been sold out..." The boy Sobbed.
“You queued up at noon, you must have been lazy somewhere!”
"I didn't..."
The woman cursed for a while, then suddenly sat down on the wooden bench in frustration and began to wipe her tears.
Without sugar, she couldn't even make today's dinner.
The family can only eat tasteless chips and black bread, and drink bitter tea.
What’s even worse is that her husband will have no sugar during tea break tomorrow...
He was a dock worker who lived on bread and chips and simply didn't have the stamina to work for 14 hours straight.
Only by replenishing tea with sugar in the afternoon, he could persist until get off work.
She cried for a while, picked up the wooden box again, went out and bought 4 ounces of candy at the normal price.
At 8 o'clock in the evening, a man with an unshaven beard and a smell of sweat returned home. Regardless of the stains on his body, he fell tiredly on the bed and said feebly: "Julie, is dinner ready?"< br>
The woman hesitated and handed him a glass of water and whispered: "We only have 4 ounces of sugar this week..."
The man sat up suddenly and said anxiously: "What's going on? Didn't I leave 7 pence for you?"
When the woman explained the situation, he frowned and sighed, and pulled her aside as if she had committed a crime. The son who had made a big mistake patted his wife again: "It doesn't matter, just hang on and you will get better next week." "Come here."
As he was talking, a girl of twelve or thirteen years old, wearing a coarse cloth headscarf, opened the door and looked around the three people in the room with red eyes, and then hugged the woman. The person started crying: "Mom, I was fired from the store..."
The whole family was shocked.
The man stood up, pulled her and asked: "Anna, what happened?"
"Mr. Parnell said that business has been bad recently and he can't afford to pay me wages, so... ugh."
The woman was shocked: "How is this possible? Even a shop selling tea would Like this? "
How did she know that the price of sugar has soared, making it impossible for many people to afford sugar. The British must add sugar to their tea. Without sugar, tea sales plummeted.
Parnell’s store has seen a 40% drop in sales since the sugar crisis!
The family was having a mediocre dinner, and the narrow room was filled with gloom and gloom.
Six days later, the man fainted from exhaustion while transporting goods at the dock, and his employer deducted three days' wages without explanation.
This was a heavy blow to a family that was already struggling to maintain itself.
With the eldest daughter losing her job, they will not be able to buy enough bread without these three days' wages.
Misfortune never appears alone, and soon the worse happened.
As the wave of company bankruptcies caused by the London Gas Street Light Incident continues to ferment, the number of unemployed people is increasing, and capitalists will naturally not let go of this "good opportunity."
All factories began to reduce workers' wages as if they had agreed to do so.
Anyway, there are a lot of unemployed people out there. If you think the salary is low, just get out. Of course there will be people willing to work.
Andy's father was also notified by his employer that his salary would be reduced from 1 pound 12 shillings per month to 1 pound 8 shillings.
(End of this chapter)